Media Credit: Image courtesy of NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
The 9th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station by Orbital ATK is targeted for launch no earlier than 4:39 a.m. EDT on May 21 and will host multiple payloads sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory .
Mission: Orbital ATK CRS-9
Launch date: Tuesday, May 21, 2018 at 7:19 a.m. EDT
Location: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia
Orbital ATK’s Cygnus capsule will host payloads sponsored by the ISS National Lab representing a combination of science, technology, small satellites, and the replenishment of hardware facilities to support future research.
Launching on an Antares rocket, the Cygnus capsule will carry approximately 7,400 pounds of science payloads, crew supplies, and hardware to the space station including multiple ISS National Lab payloads.
CubeSats are providing researchers an inexpensive and innovative way to leverage satellite technology in low Earth orbit. NanoRacks, LLC., has been a pioneer in enabling CubeSat deployment from the space station, launching over 200 satellites to date.
Zaiput Flow Technologies, an innovative startup based in Cambridge, MA, seeks to validate its proprietary liquid separator onboard the International Space Station - which could have far-reaching implications to drug development on Earth, and further chemistry-related experiments in microgravity.
NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL)—a multiuser facility that will use laser cooling technology to enable the study of ultra-cold quantum gasses—is set to launch to the ISS on Orbital ATK CRS-9.
Following the successful launch of Orbital ATK’s ninth resupply mission on Monday, the Cygnus capsule docked with the space station this morning, carrying nine CubeSats for deployment via NanoRacks from the ISS and six from Cygnus itself.
